(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor room of an electric vehicle, and more particularly, to a motor room of an electric vehicle in which parts installed therein are disposed to satisfy electric, mechanical, and physical characteristics.
(b) Description of the Related Art
As generally known in the art, an electric vehicle is developed to travel by a driving power from a battery. There are several types of vehicles which utilize driving power from a battery, including pure electric vehicles which utilize only electric power from a battery, and hybrid electric vehicles which utilize driving powers from both a traditional internal combustion engine and an electric battery.
In a motor room (a front compartment) of the electric vehicle, major parts are installed, such as a motor, a reducer, an electric-driven compressor of an air conditioner, an On-Board Charger (OBC), a high voltage junction box, and a heat pump system. The motor room of an electric vehicle corresponds generally to an engine room of a vehicle having an internal combustion engine as a driving power source.
FIG. 1 is a front view illustrating the arrangement in which ins major parts of an electric vehicle are installed in a motor room of a conventional electric vehicle. FIG. 2 is a plan view illustrating the arrangement in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a motor 12 and a reducer 14 are arranged in parallel at a lower central area of a motor room 10. An electric air conditioner compressor 16 is disposed beside the motor 12 and a chiller 18 is disposed above the compressor 16. An electric power control unit (EPCU) 22 and an On-Board charger (OBC) 24 are sequentially disposed above the motor 12 and the reducer 14. A heat pump unit (HPU) 26 is disposed to the left of the EPCU 22 and a low voltage battery 28 is disposed to the right of the OBC 24.
Referring to FIG. 2, the OBC 24 is disposed at a central area of the motor room 10, and the low voltage battery 28 is disposed to the right of the OBC 24. A high voltage junction box 34 is disposed above the OBC 24, and an accumulator 32 is disposed in front of the low voltage battery 28.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, a pipe of a heat pump system and a cooling loop of an air conditioning system are disposed within the dotted line area dot-AB, and wirings (including electric wires branched from the high voltage junction box 34) are disposed within the dotted line area dot-C.
Since the above-mentioned parts of an electric vehicle are well known and their roles, functions and operations are also well known, their detailed descriptions will be omitted for the brief and clear illustration above.
However, when the major parts of an existing electric vehicle are arranged as illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, several problems may arise.
When the electric air conditioner compressor 16 is disposed beside the motor 12, it becomes difficult to secure control performance of the motor 12 by varying a gap of a resolver (not shown) which serves as a sensor. Moreover, it is difficult to reduce noise vibration harshness (NVH) due to high frequency noise generated by the motor 12 and the electric air conditioner compressor 16, and interference and superposition of the noise.
Further, when a heat pump system is provided in the electric vehicle, the electric air conditioner compressor 16 is disposed beside the motor 12 and the reducer 15 in parallel. This results in overlapping along the paths of the air conditioning pipes of the heat pump system and hoses of electric devices (which are provided for utilizing waste heat) This deteriorates the efficiency in the system, and degrades the aesthetic appearance of the motor room 10.
Still further, in a case when the OBC 24 is disposed at the left hand side of a driver and the high voltage junction box 34 is disposed at the right hand side of the driver, it is difficult to distribute right and left shaft loads of the front wheels. Further, it becomes difficult to provide an aesthetic appearance of the motor room 10 due to the increased length of the wirings connected to the high voltage junction box 34.
The above information disclosed in this background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.